Figures obtained by the Daily Telegraph, covering the first two weeks of the month, have revealed the extent of the chaos faced by people flying into Heathrow.

Immigration Minister Damian Green was told he will have account for the chaos when he appears before the Home Affairs Select Committee and explain the chronic queues that are doing "huge damage" to Britain's reputation.

There are fears that the problems are tarnishing the UK's image, particularly with the London Olympics only three months away.

The Border Force has agreed a series of performance targets with Heathrow setting out the maximum acceptable queuing times.

For passengers from outside the European Economic Area – the EU along with Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway – the threshold is 45 minutes.

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But according to the statistics, compiled by BAA - Heathrow’s operator - for Terminal 3, the Border Force missed this target on 13 out of the 15 days, with some passengers queuing for up to an hour and a half

Britons and holders of other European passport holders fared somewhat better, but on four days out of 15, the Force missed its 25 minute target for queues, with passengers left waiting of up to three quarters of an hour.

Fast Track passengers – in many cases business passengers who are considered as vital for the British economy – fared considerably worse, with the target of 30 minutes missed on nine days.

According to these figures, there was not a single day in which the Border Force met all its targets for all three categories of passenger.

Even this extended snapshot could be an underestimate of the chaos inflicted on the travelling public.

Worse problems occurred on a number of occasions last week, with Terminal Five, which is used by British Airways, reporting delays of up to two hours.

Civil service unions have predicted even longer queues if the Border Force presses ahead with plans to cut the number of staff from 8,500 in October 2010 to 7,322 by April 2015.

The Immigration Service Union has voiced fears that delays could reach more than three hours as tourists flood into Britain over the summer ahead of the Olympic Games.

Anger has been growing among airlines at the delays their passengers are facing.

“If the Government wishes to pursue more stringent immigration checks then it must adequately resource the UK's borders to be able to cope during busy holiday periods and events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive.

The Board of Airline Representatives in the UK, representing 80 carriers, has described the immigration queues as a national embarrassment.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary is due to meet airlines within the next few weeks to discuss the delays.

Yesterday Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, announced plans to call Immigration Minister Damian Green after reports of lengthy delays to get past passport control.

Alastair Campbell, the former Downing Street communications chief who was caught up in Thursday night queues, tweeted: "If this is what Heathrow T5 border queue is like on an average Thursday, Olympic athletes should think about coming soon."

Mr Vaz said the issue was of "great concern" and needed to be addressed irrespective of the Olympics.

"Huge damage is done to our country's reputation," he said.

"The Government has a choice either to increase the number of staff at the airports or to restart the suspension of the checks.”

This was disputed by a Border Force spokesman. "Our own internal monitoring for this period shows we met all our targets for EU passengers and met targets on 11 out of 15 days for non-EU passengers.”